A Stroll Down Memory Lane

Gary was in Arizona recently so I asked him to take some pictures of the very first house we every bought when we moved to Phoenix. I can't remember the number but it was on Aldine Street. It was pretty small but the perfect starter home for us as we were just starting out and begining our family. We had lots of plants, flowers, trailing vines, bushes and trees. Now not much of our hard work is left. We learned how to do a lot of home improvement projects thanks to our foresight in purchasing a 30 year old home. As a result we also learned that it's always better to buy new!
I was amazed at how tall the palm trees have grown over the years. Course that was a few years ago back in 1985 when we sold it to take a job a new state.

When we lived there we only had a carport so some where along the line it was converted to an enclosed garage. Sweet! I wonder if the washer and dryer are still in a shed off the patio in the back yard???

Even though most of the vegetation we planted didn't survive through the years, surprisingly the 2 palm trees have done very well. When we moved away the biggest one was just a little taller than the roof line of the house and the smaller one was more like a big bush!

That was the side gate to our 8 foot jaccuzzi though neigbors wall was natural brick ...not painted white.

There was an alley behind our house separating us from the backyards of the houses behind us where the garbage truck would drive down to empty the big dumpsters that 4 homes shared. I was always afraid to go back there to throw away our trash at night. It was spooky and kind of creepy in the dark! Not to mention the chance that I might run into a black widow spider or two. That's our lemon tree. It was big when we left but it looks like it's finally taken over the whole back yard! That's where we aquired our taste for fresh lemon aid. MMMmmmm!!!

This is the building where we attended church and made some awesome friends. We still keep in touch with the Ball and Hansen families.

This is the big baseball field behind our church building where Gary and I played on the ward softball teams, and where another members older son taught Eric (in pre-school at the time) his first swear word! Grrrr!

This was the stake center that we helped build through a financial assesment. We still remember the huge parking lot! It's amazing to realize how fast the years have flown by, and a little hard to believe that it was 26 years and 4 houses ago. Good times, good times!